Good luck finding a more valued or longer serving volunteer than Val Barrass.
In fact, luck would only get you halfway there, as a degree of detective instinct would surely be needed to dig out a person who has given their unwavering commitment to a Goulburn Valley association for 80 years – and still continues to do so.
But that’s Val for you.
The 93-year-old’s name is entwined in Shepparton Netball Association’s chronicles after first trying her hand at the sport – which was previously regarded as women’s basketball until 1970 – in 1943.
And if not for a simple question asked by her teacher, Val’s story may have turned out a touch different.
“At school, there was a teacher who played basketball and they were short for the next Saturday,” she said.
“She asked me if I’d play, and I said ‘yes I would’, and I haven’t left yet.
“I played for 50 years, and I started umpiring probably two or three years after I began playing.”
During that half-century, Val proved she was a dab hand on the court, starting out at Shepparton Ramblers, moving to Banks and finishing her career at Old Students while also umpiring in between.
She won the Shepparton Women’s Basketball Association best-and-fairest in 1952, finishing runner-up the following two years while at Students.
A SNA life membership followed in 1958, and the accolades didn’t stop there.
Val umpired well into her 70s after she closed the chapter on playing, flipping the page to solely focus on the rulebook where she’d go on to win a Netball Victoria Distinction gong in 2001 and claim rights to the City of Greater Shepparton Sports Award in 2002.
“You ought to see my wall,” she said with a laugh.
“But everything has sort of changed over the years, umpires get paid now.
“We got nothing when we started, we did it for the love of the game and for people to be able to play sport.
“I’d be a multi-millionaire now if I got paid like they get paid now, I can tell you.”
Multi-millionaire or not, when the final whistle blew on her umpiring tenure, it was off to the control box for Val.
Val’s Saturday station was named in her honour five years ago, while each year, SNA’s up-and-coming umpire is bestowed an award in her name.
From the control box, which she operates 8.30am-4pm every Saturday, Val checks in umpires, oversees the timing and bears witness to the next generation of Shepparton netballers hustling along the court, and there’s nothing else which brings a wider smile to her face.
“I love seeing all those children play netball and if it wasn’t for us coming here and volunteering like we do, that wouldn’t happen,” she said.
“Another big thing is the all-abilities, they just absolutely love it. I used to have a boy who every time he got a goal, he’d have to come over and tell me about it.
“I’d say ‘you better get back on the court, you’ll miss getting the ball for another goal’.
“I absolutely love it all ― and don’t get me wrong, I’d still be playing if I could, I can tell you that right now.”
Val’s competitive drive was instilled by her father, who grew up a strict methodist outlawed from playing sport by his parents.
While he couldn’t live out his dream, he’d do so vicariously through Val and her three siblings.
Val’s father took her to her first game of netball at Ardmona, and to say he was proud once she was named best-on-court after her debut is putting it lightly.
“Of course Dad’s chest went like this,” Val said while drawing a wide hand gesture.
“Dad always said if he had any children of his own, (playing sport) would be the first thing that he would be behind.
“Later on, Dad used to be ‘our coach’ – he wouldn’t have known one rule in the rulebook.
“On Saturday to Wednesday it would be a post-mortem, and then from Wednesday to Saturday it would be ‘what you have to do this Saturday’, he was funny.”
For the past 80 years, Val has witnessed netball in the Goulburn Valley move along like a time lapse, ever shifting, ever growing to a point where it is unrecognisable from its early origins.
From cowbells at the end of quarters instead of hooters, fine gravel courts before the asphalt, there is little about the game which has remained since Val first donned a netball dress.
Having someone so knowledgeable by her side is the reassurance of a lifetime for SNA president Marilyn Wall.
“It’s just wonderful, you know every week she’s going to be here,” Wall said.
“She’s so reliable and keeps coming back again and again and again. It’s another job as a committee we don’t have to worry about doing in the control box.
“The friendship we all have with Val has been amazing, and even with our children and grandchildren, she’s made sure she took an interest as well.
“And they love to come back here, my children come in and say hello to Val and the same with lots of others.”
• SNA wishes to invite past and present members to join the association in celebrating Val’s service this Saturday at the Shepparton Netball Association courts from 9am-2.30pm.